A tour of the old way
First, the fax machine. Somewhere in a back room it is still warm. Records were requested by fax, arrived by fax and were then photocopied, because nobody trusted the fax.
Second, the banker’s box. Every case had one. Some had several. Inside were the records, in the order they arrived, which is no order at all.
Third, the highlighter. A person with real training sat with the box and a yellow highlighter and read every page, looking for the dates, the diagnoses and the bills. Then they typed what they found into a document. Then someone checked the typing.
Only after all of that could anyone start on the part you were actually waiting for: a lawyer thinking about your case.
Nobody did anything wrong
That is the strange part. The work was careful, and it had to be done. It just had to be done by hand, by people whose time was needed elsewhere, and so the weeks went by.
What happens now
Now the sorting is done by software. It reads each new intake, puts the facts in order and flags what matters for the legal team. When it is time, it drafts the demand package from the records. It does not need a highlighter and it does not skim.
Then the part that was always the point happens: an attorney reads the draft, corrects it and signs it. Software has changed who does the sorting. It has not changed who is responsible.
Where the time goes instead
- To reading your file closely, because someone finally has the hours for it.
- To thinking about your case, which was the job all along.
- To talking with you, which is hard to do from the bottom of a banker’s box.
A note about notes: these are lighthearted pieces about how our office works. They are not legal advice, and they say nothing about what any case is worth or how it will turn out.
